Tuesday, December 16, 2008

AAR #2 - S2 - War of the Rats - Prawn's Perspective

[Hello gentle readers! This post is the Prawn's AAR. Minimal editing was done and my review of the action follows soonish.]

Smoke Shmoke.

The best game of all time, and my fav by far is Aliens. And why this is relevant is because I learned a lot for that game. Most importantly, it is fun to lose. The only thing more fun in Aliens than winning is seeing Hudson and Drake get ripped apart just squares before they make it out of the Reactor Room. Or seeing the Queen chomp on Hicks as Ripley watches helplessly.

So, with this valuable lesson in mind, my fur coat and an extra large glass of vodka, I went to play my second ever ASL game. This time as you might of guessed as the Russians. I am a personal fan of Russia and the Russians, but with that said, I am going to play them the same way Stalin and Kustchev would. Bloody and without remorse. Body count on both sides baby!

My second game turned out pretty much like the first ones. Lots of smiling Germans. So, why did it turn out so?

1) Rules. Not a factor. I get the game. Easy enough to understand [scrub- I am teacher of the year!]. It was not missed opportunities (or dice rolling), or not understanding rules that led to my defeat. I am surprised how easy the rules are [scrub- maybe I chatted up the complexity too much]. And our second game was still less than 2.5 hours.

2) Tactics. Scrub might have me here to some extent. He uses a more concentrated tactic of focusing his fire to defeat a small group. I tend to hit more, and pin/break many of his units, but am never able to finish many of them off. I do try to concentrate fire and part of it is because he is attacking, so he tends to get to pick his battles more than I do. I can really only react.

3) Complexity. Yes, a bit of an issue. I am not used to looking so far ahead and having to keep so many things in the back of my mind. I have to spend slightly more time on my moves. ASL is definitely more like chess and less like Hungry Hungry Hippos.

4) And this leads me directly to scrub's rule - Know the Goal - In both games I wanted to out blast scrub’s HansGrubbers like John McClane. Most games that is kind of the goal. However ASL is much more complex. Both missions can probably be won without ever defeating any German units.

5) Finally, this leads me to where my improvement must come. I think in both missions the battles were lost before the first die was rolled. My overall strategy must improve. Know the goal, have a plan and be able to avoid temptation. With this in mind I have some thinking to do before I next cross hammer and sickle with one comrade scrub!

ASL Learning Tips#1. DON'T BE AFRAID OF MAKING MISTAKES!
#2. DON'T MEMORIZE THE RULES THE FIRST TIME THROUGH - PUSH CARDBOARD ASAP!
#3. TEACHING SOMEONE ASL CAN BE GOOD FOR LEARNING ASL!
#4. ALWAYS PLAY WITH A NOTEBOOK HANDY -- TAKE NOTES!
#5. PLAY ASL "COMPETITIVELY" IN A LEAGUE OR TOURNAMENT.
#6. REVIEW YOUR PLAY AND LOOK FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE.
#7. NEVER GIVE UP. PASS YOUR PERSONAL MORALE CHECK!